When listening to Karina Pasian's voice, it's natural to think that she might actually be an older, veteran vocalist, and that's understandable; she has a very mature, no-nonsense poise about her. But Karina, who goes by just her first name professionally, was born in July 1991, making her barely 17 years old as this is being written. But despite her relative youth, Karina has the kind of voice that makes her seem about 10 years older than she actually is. And she fully displays that maturity on
"Sixteen At War," and other songs on her debut album,
First Love, which was released in the U.S. on Aug. 19, 2008.
The tone of
First Love is set on the album's first single,
"Sixteen At War," aka "16 @ War." The track is a female empowerment song about some of the things that teenage girls living in the 'hood have to deal with. "Ain’t no daddies where I’m from it’s just mad mothers, And eyes that still seem they can’t look past color, Why am I disrespected by someone I should call brother? And why girls feel unpretty and constantly hate each other," she sings. The song's deep, and it's not the only one on the album that is.
There are other 'message' tracks, like the soaring perseverance and self-determination song "Can't Bring Me Down," on which Karina channels her inner Alicia Keys: "If I stumble, I won't hit the ground," she sings over a piano and strings-laced beat. But the album has a fairly even mix of serious and light-hearted tracks. Interestingly enough, the party songs designed to showcase her youthful side ("90s Baby," "Baby Baby") are just as good as the more serious stuff, which means that Karina's not just a one-dimensional artist. Where she does fail, sometimes, is on a variety of sappy teenage love songs ("Can't Find the Words," "Can You Handle It," the Usher-influenced "The Love We Got") that are a waste of her seasoned voice.
Another minor flaw is the production of some tracks. The songs run the gamut from urban pop to adult contemporary, but never does Karina make any of the styles her own. The Jill-of-All-Trades approach hurts the album slightly. Overall First Love is a nice debut for this 17-year-old, but it probably just scratches the surface of her talent level.
